EASTER FIRST IMPRESSIONS BEAUTY HAUL

I had such a lovely time last week, beauty shopping at the St. Enoch Centre in Glasgow. They invited me down for a fun ‘Easter beauty egg hunt’ around the centre, and I picked up lots of new products to try. I wanted to share them with you in a first impressions haul, as I’ve only been using each of them for around 5 days.

The St. Enoch Centre is a great place in Glasgow to shop for beauty, as they have everything from The Body Shop and Boots to the high-end brands in the Debenhams beauty hall. I spent an afternoon there last week – the St. Enoch Centre team armed me with a £150 gift card and a selection of Easter eggs that all contained a beauty shopping-related challenge to complete.

The first challenge sent me to the Make Up Forever counter in the Debenhams beauty haul, to learn all about their new products, and get a makeover in new season colours – you can see this image on my Instagram. I had to take my own makeup off first with their So Divine Moisturizing Cleansing Cream (£20.50) and I really enjoyed using it, so I picked one up at the end of my visit. It’s great at removing even really stubborn makeup, and it leaves your skin feeling very soft and comfortable, rather than stripped like some makeup removers or wipes. I’ve been using it every evening since then as the first cleanse of my triple cleanse! Usually when I get in at night, I want my makeup off, but I also just want to sit down and rest too. So I take my makeup off with this cleanser and just some cotton pads, as you don’t have to rinse it off afterwards. Then, at bedtime, I go in with a balm cleanser followed by a cream/gel cleanser just to make sure all makeup traces are removed.

I also bought a stunning Make Up Forever Glitter in No.11 Beige (£11), which is actually rose gold in colour and looks so beautiful on. This is a loose glitter rather than an eyeshadow, so you do need to have a glitter fixing product or a suitable cream shadow to attach it onto your lids with. I’m going to be wearing this all spring. The final product that I picked up from my first challenge at Make Up Forever, was their Ultra HD Lip Booster in 00 Universal (£18). This clear lip priming serum hydrates your lips with hyaluronic acid, plumping them and creating a smooth base for makeup. My lips are always dry and chapped (no matter how much lip balm I use), so this has been making them a bit smoother.

The second challenge that St. Enoch Centre gave me was to visit The Body Shop and pick out some new skincare treats for the new season. I’m pretty much overloaded with skincare products as it is, so I opted for an already tried and tested balm cleanser – The Body Shop Chamomile Cleansing Butter (£10) – as I know it’s a great high street alternative for more expensive balm cleansers like the Clinique Take The Day Off Balm. I also saw a really cool-looking Facial Massager (£8) in store, so just had to get one to try out. I’ve been using this at night and find it really relaxing. It also stimulate collagen production (via the increased blood flow), and gives your skin a lovely glow by bringing more oxygen to the area. The final product that I purchased in The Body Shop was a lovely body scrub. The Coconut Exfoliating Cream Body Scrub (£6) is so nice to use – it’s just gentle exfoliation and it leaves your skin really soft and smelling amazing.

My third and final challenge was to visit Boots and pick out a new lip and nail colour for the spring season. There is so much to choose from in Boots, but I ended up going with a pretty pink-mauve Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish in Forever Together (£9.99) and matching Miracle Gel Top Coat (£9.99). I’ve been wearing this duo on my nails for four days now and there is no sign of chipping at all. The polish doesn’t have the plumpness of a genuine gel polish, but it does have good shine and staying power. The lip colour that I opted for was the Clinique Lacquer Pop Lip Colour and Primer in Sugar Pop (£16.50). I’m definitely a lip gloss girl, and this gives me that high gloss shine, but a good level of colour too. This shade is a delicate nude pink that’s perfect for spring.

Before going home, I popped back to Debenhams to spend the rest of the money on my gift card on the Dior Addict Lip Glow Colour Reviver Lip Balm in 007 Raspberry. It’s a sheer lip balm that adds a hint of colour to your lips, whilst keeping them conditioned and moisturised via Wild Mango Butter and Cranberry Oil. You can layer this shade to create a subtle fuschia pop, or keep it very sheer.

Thanks St. Enoch Centre for the new additions to my beauty stash, and for inviting me to take part in this fun Easter campaign.

This post is a collaboration with St. Enoch Centre, but all opinions are my own.

You can find out more about what I’m loving, and what I’m doing, over on my Instagram.